Laid-Off Silicon Valley Worker Kills Three

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A 47-year-old engineer arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting three of his co-workers had been laid off hours earlier and returned to the office to ask for a meeting with the victims, police said Saturday.

Jing Hua Wu was arrested Saturday, a day after the shootings at an office complex in Santa Clara, west of San Jose. A manhunt ended at an intersection in his home city of Mountain View, and he will be booked into jail on three counts of murder, said Santa Clara Police Lt. Mike Sellers.

Wu had worked at the Silicon Valley high-tech firm SiPort Inc. as a product test engineer until he was let go on Friday morning. Police said he returned sometime after 3 p.m. Friday.

"He requested a meeting with several company officials," said Santa Clara Police Chief Stephen Lodge. "It was during this meeting that Jing Wu took out a 9 mm handgun and shot and killed all three officials."

Killed were 56-year-old Sid Agrawal, SiPort's chief executive officer; Brian Pugh, 47, vice president of operations; and Marilyn Lewis, 67, head of human resources.

Wu, who is married and has twin sons, was not armed when he was arrested, and officers did not find a gun in his vehicle, police said.

Meanwhile, Wu's neighbors were still trying to comprehend what happened to the man they referred to fondly as "Jerry." Neighbors in Wu's close-knit neighborhood of eight two-story stucco homes described him as a happily married father of 6-year-old twin boys and another boy under 3.

"It's shocking and emotionally jarring," said Jim Pollart, 47, a neighbor who met Wu and his wife, who friends call Jane, when the couple moved into the area some 11 years ago. "Who knows what happened to cause him to do such a horrible thing. It's unbelievable."

"Wu is a nice, smart guy who is quiet by nature," Pollart said, adding that his children regularly played with Wu's kids. He also recalled how joyous Wu and his wife were when their parents made annual visits from China.

Standing outside Wu's home Saturday evening, Pollart saw a woman come out the house and asked her how Wu's wife was doing. The woman replied, "Not so well."

A man holding a briefcase walked into Wu's house and was met by Wu's wife at the door. They did not respond to a reporter's subsequent knocks on the door.

Wu had been missing since the shootings at the offices of the 4-year-old company, which develops digital radio semiconductors.

Detectives received a tip about Wu's whereabouts on Saturday and were waiting for him as he exited his silver sport utility vehicle near a shop.

"This is a truly tragic event. These people are innocent victims just trying to do their jobs," Sellers said. "To get him into custody within hours of the event was very, very important to our department."

Comments

[Amerkin]

I have my retirement all planned out.
It's called the 357 plan.
It only cost about $750 bucks.
And it's safe from economic uphevals.
It's very easy as well.
When there's no more work, I can just pull out my 357 plan... and retire myself.
Quick and easy.
It's the ALL-AMERICAN RETIREMENT PLAN!!
Yeah-hooo!!

[zorak1704]

You might be hearing a lot of stories like this. That is unless the so-called news organizations allow it. Conservatives will have you believe that making a low wage while the boss is pulling in millions is being a good patriot and a good Christian. But when it all hits the skids, there is nothing more dangerous than a starving man with a gun and nothing left to lose.

[4Detroit]

I think you may be right. Some people say that desperate times call for desperate measures. This does not justify what this man did, but one can't help to think that if a person loses their lively hood where do they turn? To most welfare is not an option. To others starting over is a very dramatic change. I am afraid we may see more of this too, while the bankers and executives run off with all the cash.

[CologneCitizen]

Globalization works only for companies interests. If you had a good education in Germany, you were able to find a decent, well paid job. These days you get contracts for a limited time period, and they are always searching if there is somebody somewhere to do it for a few Euros cheaper. The atmo in many workplaces is just horrible. How can you plan anything financially when you don't know how long your job lasts. I am not defending this guy, there is no excuse for murder. Sad though to watch the decline of the working environments both in the USA and in Europe.

[Eres]

In Germany, unlike the United States, at least you have a decent social safety net that will provide some support in terms of benefits should you lose your job and respectable labor laws that require companies to provide legitimate justification for firing and layoff and advance notice to enable you to locate new employment. Here in the States, we have NOTHING. Almost zero protection as workers and unemployment insurance that expires after a few short months. If you lose your job because a company wants to cut costs, they will rarely admit that your termination is a matter of the bottom line. In fact, in some parts of the country companies are not required to provide any reason at all. They can just let you go without explanation. When they do, you lose not only your means of income, but also all health benefits.

[CologneCitizen]

Thanks for the info. Over here you get a minimum of 1 year unemployment money, which is roughly 60 % of your last income. ( with kids 65 % ) And you NEVER can lose your health benefits, even if you will find no other job in your lifetime.

[devans00]

This situation happened in my neighborhood. I regularly shop at the shopping center where Wu was caught. And I could easily bike to places mentioned in the original article.

Although I'm sorry for the victims of Mr. Jing Hua Wu, Marilyn Lewis, Brian Pugh, 47 and Sid Agrawal, I can understand how the situation got to the point it did. I automatically don't buy that Mr. Wu was a poor employee. So much corporate and co-worker misbehavior, unfairness and dehumanization can be hidden by saying someone is a bad employee.

Very educated and highly trained people are used and disposed by companies every single day of the week. Some people have lower tolerance for being misused as a commodity rather than being treated like flesh and blood humans with hopes, dreams and obligations. The ones with lower breaking points are the ones we hear about going postal. I don't know if they feel more alienated than everyone else. Or do they just feel more entitled to have things go their way?

[GrainOSand]

I walked when I could not stand it anymore, and I left major cash and opportunity on the table. I cannot condone what Mr. Wu did, but I know the nature of environments that breed that level of contempt. I worked for an excellent company, but it was the combination of a few people who annoyed me and several much larger issues of society, that had nothing to do with work, that convinced me that the right thing to do was to isolate. I have not looked back, though it cost me dearly (monetarily) to take the steps I did. However, if I had not taken the steps, I feel I would be lost now, for I would have needed to kill the very essence of whom I am to continue. I miss my profession, but not the environment. Many business/professional people, in their greed and ambition, kill the desire of those around them who have genuine love for their craft. Mr. Wu went too far. I send out positive vibes to the families and friends of the slain as well as to Mr. Wu and his family. It is tragic for all.

[linden]

This was a tragedy, but so is our entire economic system right now. I recently canceled my long distance service because it was outsourced somewhere overseas. When I had a problem, I couldn't understand a word of English that the customer service reps spoke. It went from a nice little user friendly company based in the US to this overseas operation of underpaid employees. And my service actually became more expensive in the process.

[rcwblessed]

I recently spent almost 3 hours on the phone with 3 different Dell computer techs, in an attempt to get my system up and running. Apparently, Dell has outsourced this part of their business to the country of India. I had extreme difficulty understanding the firsr 2 techs, so they put a supervisor on the phone, who spoke somewhat clearer English. I had absolutely no qualms with their technical knowledge, which I would rate very highly. The language barrier between us for almost 3 hours was one of the most frustrating and painful experiences I've ever had. Some jobs just shouldn't be outsourced! I like Dell products, but this experience would make me think twice about purchasing from them in the future.

[Snwbnny9]

If someone would put together a list of companies that DON'T outsource their tech departments I would use those companies. I get really frustrated trying to understand someone in India.

[VegasBabe]

first off its good to see that most here are looking at the larger picture of these very sad circumstances. who would condone such actions? no one. having said that, working conditions have become deplorable in many businesses in the US and suffice to say, for african americans, the last hired, first fired remains true to date. some cultures may find it more difficult to accept these constant humiliations. as for outsourcing american jobs, dell has used india's talents for far to long now and i wouldn't buy their products in a fire sale. i experienced the exact same situation when calling for technical support with a dell pc and though i have nothing against india, i have everything against outsourcing american work and contributing to the economic decline of american workers, period! i also got rid of my dell pc!

[Downtheroadapiece]

It's looking like this fellow was fired due to performance and not necessarily as a result of the economic situation. Here's the local paper's story on it. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931

[mgloraine]

When a company has decided to dump people as a "cost cutting" measure, they need to specify a reason for the lay-offs. If they say the positions were eliminated as a cost-cutting measure, they are usually expected to play fair with the employees, giving them some severance, a decent review, and so on. That costs the company money. If they say there were performance problems, they typically just shove the workers out on the street WITHOUT a severance package, which is cheaper for the company. Unfortunately, it also means the worker is terminated with an unfavorable review. So, not only is he out in the cold and short on cash, he's got a phony "black spot" on his work history, and can't use his former company or anyone working there as a reference going forward. Complicating matters for a lot of people is their immigration status, which may be dependent upon continued employment. Giving an immigrant worker the boot claiming performance problems could result in their deportation on top of losing everything in the material sense.

It's not hard to see a recipe for despair in these ingredients.

[Lotus19]

The company that I work for has been laying off thousands, inexplicably under the media radar, while they have posted BILLIONS in profits, growth, and gains.

What they were doing, until some Managers refused to go along, was to begin coding targeted employees as "needs development" as a justification. Some managers eventually decided that they had no choice to go along with the layoffs but they were not going to change someone's ratings. Still, many more are still going along with this. So I know for a fact that this goes on.

Some people are getting layed off only a year, or in some cases, a few months, before they collect full pension benefits and people are losing hundreds of thousands in their pension benefits as a result.

Since they are a profitable company they do need someone to do the work, so they bring in contracted employees with NO benefits at much lower pay, usually older retired employees who had a chance to collect their pensions and benefits anyway.

The next layoff, for the next thousand or so, is scheduled for Thanksgiving Day. Did I mention that the company received awards from Working Parents and some Ethics Magazines?

It is disgraceful and unethical.

[sifta]

Immigrant worker? Interestingly, the founder of the company that was one of the three murdered was also an immigrant. The guy that allegedly fired the gun (accd. to the Mercury News article on this) had been living in the same house in one of the most expensive areas of the country --- Mountain View CA --- for 11 years. So, it's not credible to bring up the deportation in this case.

In a startup company like this, you can get let go at any time without severance, typically with two weeks notice.

None of this is any excuse for premeditated murder.

[BlueZoo]

I fear this is the just the beginning of this sort of thing; however, nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies murder! If you must, take your own life and despair of God's mercy but please don't take other people's lives. It accomplishes nothing, justifies nothing and it compounds the grief. I've been wondering just how many Wall Street types would be jumping from windows, as they did in '29, were it not for the fact that skyscraper windows are sealed nowdays.

[macbabe]

This country has been depressed since 9/11!!!
... we need to start getting it back together with jobs and innovation and build confidence again, a lot of people are at the end of their rope, hang on a little longer, we can do this.

[Revolt916]

Wait until some of the throops come home; you ain't seen nothing yet.

[truthforme]

agreed

[silentknight65]

If he was LAID OFF because of lack of work, then it was wrong to do that.....If he was FIRED because he didn't kiss someone's behind, then I give him all the credit in the world!!!

[sifta]

Whatever the circumstances, premeditated triple homicide does not deserve any credit at all. This idiot has killed three people, and essentially doomed his wife and three kids. Probably a company like that cannot recover from losing a founder at that stage, and the rest of the employees will likely lose their jobs as well.

[dogbane]

I don't understand how my innocuous comments get ce*nsored, but c-r-a-p like your post gets through.

[jeffrey678]

This happened in my town too! It wasn't publicized. One dead two, brain damaged(1CEO,2VP) . I don't think they want this stuff publicized. Just north of NYC.

[tcuoohjohn]

This could be a trend...Might even slow up the layoff process. Makes personnel decisions a more dicey thing. " Hmm...do I lay off Smith who is probably suicidal or Brown who is armed to the teeth"

[tcuoohjohn]

I wonder if this will effect future layoff procedures?

[sifta]

Frequently in large companies, the employee is asked to leave the building immediately following the layoff notice, without even getting a chance to clear out his desk. You don't get to meet with the executives to state your case, etc.

In small companies, there is often no policy and is something more of personal matter. Maybe they said that it was due to performance and he thought that it was unfair. Whatever the situation, any reaction is likely to be more defensive and less humane. It will be more difficult to meet with the people who laid you off.

[iambusto]

the best way to lay off is to disable the keycards so they cant enter the building. that way problem solved.

just kidding !! its a terrible wya to lay people off but its done all the time.

[tomas0808]

This will become epidemic. Twenty years from now it'll be called the Travis Bickle revolution, that great period in American history when the workers rose up and took the country back from the scum

[Troubledwawa]

As much as I would like to say that you are wrong with your prediction of the on coming epidemic, I can't.

There are simply too many angry people who have been screwed over by Corporate America to think that incidents like this anymore are simply random, or someone else's problem.

The damage appears to have been done already.

[tc399]

The third party